Estate group purchasing matching system

ABSTRACT

In a network where a person who wants to sell an estate is connected to an estate purchase broker so that data communication can be performed, there is provided a database of information on estates to be sold which are provided by a person who wants to sell an estate, an estate purchase broker, and the like. An estate group purchasing matching system includes search condition setting means for analyzing a purchase condition described by a person who wants to purchase an estate and his/her attribute information and setting a condition for searching a person who roughly corresponds to it. In the search condition set by this search condition setting means, a priority degree of condition is quantified for each of the items and a search condition having a certain width is set for each item value. Thus, it is possible to extract a plurality of registered candidates who want to purchase an estate from the database containing estate purchase desirer information connected to the network by estate purchase desirer brief extraction means.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an estate group purchasing matchingsystem in which a person who desires to purchase a real-estate propertyuses a data communication network to register information of desiredconditions with the network, thereby enabling the person to purchase theproperty matching the desire in a short period.

BACKGROUND ART

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a conventional flow of subdividingland to sell in lots, where an estate sales desirer 1 requests an estatepurchase broker 2 a for brokerage of the sale of a property that thedesirer 1 owns. The estate purchase broker 2 a provides information ofthe property to a group to which the broker 2 a belongs as adistribution property.

The estate purchase broker 2 a negotiates with a subdivision businessowner 3 who desires to purchase the property. After the establishment ofa contract, the subdivision business owner 3 carries out designing andplanning, and sells houses on the subdivision through brokerage of anestate sales broker 2 b, etc.

The estate sales broker 2 b recruits purchase desirers 4 throughregistration with an affiliated property database 5, etc.

The estate purchase desirer 4 searches properties registered with theproperty database 5 with which the estate sales broker 2 b is affiliatedfor a desired property. When there is a property matching desiredpurchase conditions of the estate purchase desirer 4, the estate salesbroker 2 b negotiates the sale price and so on, and the subdivisionbusiness owner 3 and the estate purchase desirer 4 contract the sale.

The property database 5 is on the general internet for establishment ofa contract between a seller and a buyer.

The conventional distribution of subdivision property is configured asdescribed above. Therefore, it is difficult for an estate purchasedesirer to efficiently find a property matching the desired conditions,resulting in a problem that the estate purchase desirer should collectinformation from many estate sales brokers that install propertydatabases before finding the property matching the desired conditions.

Further, for an estate purchase broker, even if a property desired tosell is registered with a property database, when the property databaseis installed in distribution mechanisms of a limited extent, a frequencyof access from an estate purchase desirer is low, and it is difficult tosell the property early. Thus, for the estate purchase broker, there areissues such that the close rate per estate purchase desirer is low, andthat significant efforts and time is required to establish the contract.

Similarly, for a subdivision business owner, in product-out typedistribution formed of purchase of a property and subdivision sales,risks always exist such that a sales period of the property isuncertain, and that the possibility of unsold property is present.Further, even if the property is registered with a property database ofan estate sales broker, when the property database is installed indistribution mechanisms of a limited extent, a frequency of access froman estate purchase desirer is low, it is difficult to sell the propertyearly, and also for the subdivision business owner, there are issuessuch that the close rate per estate purchase desirer is low, and thatsignificant efforts and time is required to establish the contract.

Desired for estate purchase with high close rate is a system enabling anestate purchase desirer to efficiently find a desired estate in a shorttime based on an information database having-abundant items input fromestate sales brokers and the estate purchase desirers, and a propertydatabase having abundant items input from estate purchase brokers.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to obtain an estate grouppurchasing matching system in which a person who desires to purchase aproperty is capable of efficiently finding the property matching variousdesired purchase conditions without repeating trials and errors insearch, a person who desires to sell a property is capable of sellingthe property desired to sell in a short period, and an estate purchasebroker and an estate sales broker are capable of having a high closerate per customer, and saving a lot of efforts and time required beforecompletion of a contact.

On a network where estate sales desirers and estate purchase brokers areconnected to enable data communications therebetween, with respect to aproperty of a database of for-sale property information provided fromthe estate sales desirers, the estate purchase brokers and so on, anestate group purchasing matching system of the present invention has asearch condition setting means for analyzing desired purchase conditionsand purchase desirer attribute information described by an estatepurchase desirer, and setting conditions to search for a purchasedesirer generally corresponding to the property, where each of thesearch conditions set by the search condition setting means has aquantified priority of the condition, and by search condition settingfor providing a numeric value of the condition with a certain width, itis possible to extract a plurality of candidate purchase desirers, whichare estate purchase desirers registered by an estate purchase desirergeneral extraction means, from a database with which is registeredinformation of the estate purchase desirers connected to the network.

Each of the conditions is analyzed by a desired condition analysis meanswith respect to each of a plurality of estate purchase desirer generalcandidates extracted by the estate purchase desirer general extractionmeans, and it is possible to combine estate purchase general candidatesto group corresponding to the property that is arbitrarily set. There isprovided a property processing means for assuming group purchasinggeneral candidates matching the corresponding candidate property againfrom the group of the estate purchase general candidates narrowed by thedesired condition analysis means, and processing the land of theproperty to meet the desire of each of the candidates.

In the estate group purchasing matching system according to theinvention, purchase desirer information of estate purchase desirers isobtained by analyzing the estate desired purchase conditions and estatepurchase desirer attribute information described in natural language bythe purchase desirer.

Further, in the estate group purchasing matching system according to theinvention, an estate purchase desirer storage means describes a numericvalue of a priority of each item of the estate purchase desirerinformation described in natural language.

When not described, descriptions in natural language are analyzed, andportions indicating priorities are analyzed to judge priorities in thedesired conditions of the purchase desirer.

In the estate group purchasing matching system according to theinvention, the estate purchase desirer storage means uses numeric valuesof priorities when the desired purchase conditions are assigned thenumeric values of priorities, while using numeric values of prioritiesjudged in the estate purchase desirer general extraction means byanalyzing the purchase desirer conditions to determine the numericvalues of properties of the desired purchase conditions, when thenumeric values of properties are not assigned.

Thus, the estate group purchasing matching system according to theinvention is provided with the desired condition analysis means foranalyzing details of the information of desired purchase conditions andthe purchase desirer attribute information stored in the estate purchasedesirer database, and narrowing, to group estate purchase generalcandidates corresponding to the conditions set by the search conditionsetting means, a plurality of estate purchase desirer candidatesextracted by the estate purchase desirer general extraction means in aplurality of estate purchase desirer candidates meeting the searchconditions extracted by the estate purchase desirer general extractionmeans using the search condition setting means corresponding to each ofarbitrarily set properties, in a purchase desirer information databaseorganized by the estate purchase desirer general extraction means.

The estate purchase desirer general extraction means of the estate grouppurchasing matching system according to the invention is provided with asystem for quantifying priorities to assign to information as to whethera desired property is a land or a house with the land, information ofdesired railroad, information of desired station, and information ofdesired property price.

Further, the estate purchase desirer general extraction means of theestate group purchasing matching system according to the invention has asystem for quantifying degrees of attribute conditions including a name,age, current address, telephone-number, e-mail address, familystructure, occupation, place of work and years of continuous employment,annual income, presence or absence of initial deposit, motive of thedesire for purchase, and information of whether the current house is anown house or not.

Moreover, the estate group purchasing matching system according to theinvention has the search condition setting means for analyzinginformation of the property database, quantifying the priorities, andsetting conditions to search for an estate purchase desirercorresponding to the priorities.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an estategroup purchasing matching system according to one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of processing in the estategroup purchasing matching system according to the one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 is a view to explain the flow of a database of estate purchasedesirers according to the estate group purchasing matching systemaccording to the one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a view to explain the flow of a database of estate salesdesirers according to the estate group purchasing matching systemaccording to the one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an estatetrading system including a preferable example of property processingmeans;

FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of an input screen used in theestate trading system of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a view showing examples of parcel patterns used in the estatetrading system of FIG. 5;

FIGS. 8(a) to 8(b) are views to explain parcels in the estate tradingsystem of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart to explain procedures in the estate trading systemof FIG. 5;

FIG. 10 is a graph showing an example of distribution of the number ofdesirers with respect to a property to sell used in the estate tradingsystem of FIG. 5;

FIG. 11 is a graph showing another example of distribution of the numberof desirers with respect to a property to sell used in the estatetrading-system of FIG. 5;

FIG. 12 is a view illustrating a change in 3-D house images according toa change in property line of parcels; and

FIG. 13 is a diagram to explain conventional procedures in estate trade.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

One embodiment of the present invention will be described below withreference to accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an estategroup purchasing matching system according to one embodiment of thepresent invention. In the figure, “1” denotes a person who desires tosell a real-estate property that the person owns, “2” denotes an estatepurchase broker who deals with the property that the seller 1 desires tosell, “3” is an estate sales broker that deals with a property of apurchase desirer, “4” denotes a purchase desirer who desires to purchasea property, “7” denotes a property database with which the estate salesdesirer 1 registers the property to sell, and “6” denotes an informationnetwork. The network 6 is assumed to be connected to estate salesdesirers 1, estate purchase brokers 2, estate sales brokers 3, andestate purchase desirers 4.

Further in FIG. 1, “5” denotes the system, and the system 5 is aproperty search apparatus which directly searches for properties desiredby the estate sales brokers 3 and estate purchase desirers 4 to enablematching with information of the estate sales desirers 1 and estatepurchase brokers 2 via the network 6. In the system 5, “9” denotes adatabase of desired purchase conditions and purchase desirer attributeinformation which is described by the estate sales brokers 3 and estatepurchase desirers 4 in natural language, transmitted via the network 6and organized by an estate purchase desirer database storage means.

“7” denotes a database of properties for sale which are described by theestate purchase desirers 1 and estate purchase brokers 2 in naturallanguage, transmitted via the network 6 and organized by a propertydatabase storage means.

“10” denotes a search condition setting means for searching thesuperiority of a property numerically and setting conditions of theproperty. The search condition setting means arbitrarily sets a property7 n, and quantifies the priority of each of the conditions, whileproviding each condition with a certain width by making the conditionconstant or variable. “11” denotes an estate purchase desirer generalextraction means for roughly extracting a plurality of estate purchasedesirers by expanded search conditions obtained by providing the setconditions with certain widths in the search condition setting means 10.“12” denotes a desired condition analysis means for analyzing the estatepurchase desirer general extraction means, and thereby setting thereduced number of a plurality of purchase estate desirers to combine.“13” denotes a plurality of purchase candidates grouped by “12”corresponding to an arbitrary one of 7 n. In the apparatus, the database7 with a plurality of properties is accessed via the network 6, and aplurality of estate purchase desirers 13 is extracted from registeredestate purchase desirers, with respect to the property set by the searchcondition setting means 10 corresponding to each of the properties, andis combined for matching in the desired condition analysis means 12 sothat each desire is satisfied.

In the group purchasing matching apparatus 5, “14” denotes an estateprocessing means for analyzing again the conditions of each of theplurality of estate purchase desirers 3 which are analyzed by thedesired condition analysis means 12, and processing the property so asto satisfy the desires of estate purchase general candidates for grouppurchase.

The flow will be described below. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating theflow of processing in the estate group purchasing matching systemaccording to the first embodiment of the invention. Desired conditionsand attribute information of a purchase desirer is transmitted in 9 a.In 9 b, the reception site analyzes and organizes the content oftransmission data, and files the data with the estate purchase desirerinformation database 9. The search condition setting means 10arbitrarily chooses a property from the estate sales desirer informationdatabase 7, and selects search conditions corresponding to the property7. According to the search conditions, the estate purchase desirergeneral extraction means performs narrowed analysis, and selects aplurality of estate purchase desirer candidates.

Meanwhile, an estate sales desirer transmits for-sale propertyinformation in 7 a. In 7 b, the information is received, organized,analyzed and filed with the estate sales desirer information database 7.

With respect to the property 7 n arbitrarily chosen from the estatesales desirer information database 7, the estate purchase desirergeneral extraction means 11 selects a plurality of estate purchasedesirer candidates, and the desired condition analysis means 12 groupsfrom the candidates a plurality of purchase general candidates for theplurality 7 n.

The property processing means 14 processes the property 7 n so that theproperty 7 n matches the desired conditions of the plurality of purchasegeneral candidates for the property 7 n grouped by the desired conditionanalysis means 12 so as to allow group purchase of the property, therebyenabling completion of a trade contract of the property 7 n in a shorttime. Described above is the basic flow in the estate group purchasingmatching system.

In FIG. 1, an estate purchase desirer transmits desired purchaseconditions for purchase of a desired property and customer informationto the system apparatus 5 via the network 6. In this case, the estatepurchase desirer 4 describes the desired purchase conditions andcustomer information in text in natural language as in e-mail, insteadof describing in specific format.

FIG. 3 illustrates the flow of content for the estate purchase desirer 4to describe. As the desired purchase conditions to describe, the desirerdescribes whether to desire a land or a house with the land in step ST1,and further describes a priority of this condition using number 1, 2, 3or 4 arranged in descending order of importance.

Described in step ST2 is a desire for the railroad nearby a property.The priority determined in relation to commute time and family isdescribed using number 1, 2, 3 or 4. In each of steps ST1 to ST6, thepriority is described using number 1, 2, 3 or 4.

Described in step ST3 are a desired station and the reason for thestation.

Described in step ST4 is a sale price of a property.

Described in step ST5 are an area of a house and a floor plan of thehouse.

As well as the aforementioned desired conditions, desired purchaseconditions described in step ST6 include environments of the location ofa property, information of facilities such as a hospital, nursery andkindergarten, information on the presence or absence of facilitiesoffering convenience to life such as a supermarket, school and bank, andinformation of the presence or absence of facilities that are notdesired to exist nearby a property such as a garbage incineration plant.

Further, in step ST7 to describe estate purchase desirer attributeinformation, described are a name, age, and family structure of theestate purchase desirer and age(s) of family member(s).

Described in step ST8 are a current address, telephone number and e-mailaddress.

Described in step ST9 are an occupation, place of work, and years ofcontinuous employment.

Described in step S10 is information including initial deposit inpurchasing a property, and the correspondent financial institute.

Described in step ST11 is a motive for purchase of a property, anddescribed in step ST12 is as to whether the current house is an ownhouse or not.

Step ST13 is processed according to the need of description of otherattribute information.

FIG. 4 illustrates the flow of content for the estate sales desirer 1 todescribe. Also with respect to information of a property for sale, asdescribed above, described first in step ST14 are an application of theproperty for sale and information of the type.

Next, in ST15, described is a location of the property. Descried in stepST16 is information of the owner of the property.

Described in step ST17 is information of price per unit area of the landand a desired price for sale.

Described in step ST18 is information including environments related tothe location of the property.

Described further is necessary information as other information.

The desired purchase conditions and customer information which isdescribed in natural language and transmitted from the estate purchasedesirer 3 is converted into a predetermined need format to analyze andorganize. The format is also used to enable the desired purchaseconditions and customer information to be linked to the propertydatabase.

With respect to the desired purchase conditions described in naturallanguage, an estate purchase desirer input means 16 in FIG. 1 analyzesthe content of descriptions in natural language indicating priorities 1to 4, describes the content indicating the priorities in specific formatto convert, judges the priorities, and sets a grouping search condition.Therefore, the customer is capable of describing desired conditions forpurchase of a property in predetermined fields with piece of mind toexpress in ordinary sentence without worrying.

In FIG. 2, the estate purchase desirer general setting means 11 storesestate purchase desirer information in an estate purchase desirercandidate group information data base 17 in FIG. 2. The estate purchasedesirer information is obtained by analyzing desired purchase conditionsin the estate purchase desirer database based on the grouping searchcondition corresponding to the property 7 n set by the search conditionsetting 10, grouping desirers, and converting data of the desirers intoa predetermined format.

In FIG. 2, the desired condition analysis means 12 analyzes in detail aplurality of estate purchase desirer candidates stored in the estatepurchase desirer candidate information for each group, and converts thedata into a format enabling comparison between data of a plurality ofcandidates for group purchase to set, in conjunction with the setting ofcandidates for estate purchase corresponding to 7 n arbitrarily set bythe search condition setting means 10 from the for-sale propertyinformation. At this point, the desired condition analysis means 12 usesthe priorities judged by the estate purchase desirer general extractionmeans 11, and when a priority is not given and the estate purchasedesirer general extraction means 11 cannot judge the priority,determines the priority from the sequence of descriptions of the desiredpurchase conditions.

Further, the desired condition analysis means 12 examines, for example,another desire, corresponding to the desired purchase conditions of thecustomer.

In FIG. 2, a plurality of estate purchase general candidate information13 selected by the desired condition analysis means 12 is obtained bycombining to extract a plurality of general candidates from desirersregistered with the estate purchase desirer candidate informationgrouped by the estate purchase desirer general extraction means 11,using an analysis condition obtained by expanding an analysis conditionset by the desired condition analysis means 12 to provide a certainwidth.

In FIG. 2, the estate purchase desirer general extraction means 11extracts a plurality of candidates by analyzing desired conditions ofregistered purchase desirers, using a search condition obtained byexpanding a search condition set by the search condition setting means10 to provide a certain width.

In FIG. 2, the property processing means 14 is a means which analyzesdesired conditions of a plurality of purchase desirers set using thesearch condition setting means 10, estate purchase desirer generalextraction means 11 and the desirer general extraction means, and whichis capable of processing a property corresponding to the arbitrarily setproperty 7 n to match the desired conditions of each of the purchasedesirers as much as possible. Thus, the means 14 is a new means enablingthe group purchase of purchase desirers.

In FIG. 2, the property processing means 14 notifies a plurality ofdetermined general candidates via the network 6.

In FIG. 1, the estate purchase desirer 4 pays a blockage commission tothe estate broker 3 when completion of the contract. The commission is aconsideration for the estate purchase desirer 4 achieving the purchaseof the property matching the desire. Further, the estate brokers 2 and 3pay contingent fees to a manager of the estate group purchasing matchingsystem 5. The fees are considerations for improved efficiency inbrokerage by the estate brokers 2 and 3 handling estate purchasedesirers 4 with high possibilities of completion of a contract.

As described above, according to this embodiment, such effects areprovided that the estate purchase desirer 4 is capable of efficientlyfinding a property matching various desired purchase conditions withoutrepeating trials and errors in property search, the estate sales desirer1 is capable of early selling a property desired to sell, and that theestate brokers 2 and 3 are capable of having a high close rate perestate purchase desirer 4, and saving a lot of efforts and time requiredbefore completion of a contact.

As described above, in the system search apparatus, desired purchaseconditions and customer attribute information described by an estatepurchase desirer is analyzed and organized in set format, the searchcondition setting means selects a search condition corresponding to aproperty “n” arbitrarily selected from the estate sales desirerinformation database, a plurality of estate purchase desirers isaccessed from the estate purchase desirer database based on the searchcondition, and the estate purchase desirer general extraction meansroughly groups purchase desirers from registered estate purchasedesirers, using numeric values of priorities of desired conditions ofthe estate purchase desirers. The desired condition analysis meanssearches in detail the desired purchase conditions and customerattribute information of the estate purchase desirer candidates tonarrow the purchase desirer candidates, and thus groups purchase desirercandidates. Such an effect is thereby provided that a plurality ofgrouped candidates is capable of achieving purchase of a propertygenerally matching the desired conditions in conjunction with theproperty processing means.

Thus, by providing the property processing means which determines aproperty candidate that, each of purchase desirers desires to notify theestate purchase desirers, such effects are obtained that the estatepurchase desirer is capable of efficiently finding a property matchingvarious desired purchase conditions without repeating trials and errorsin property search, the estate sales desirer is capable of selling aproperty desired to sell in a short period, and that the estate brokersare capable of having a high close rate per estate purchase desirer, andsaving a lot of efforts and time required before completion of acontact.

Such effects are further provided that estate purchase desirers arecapable of obtaining information promptly and, that it is possible toperform estate distribution processing efficiently, while the estatepurchase desirer is capable of efficiently finding a property matchingvarious desired purchase conditions without repeating trials and errorsin property search, the estate sales desirer is capable of early sellinga property desired to sell, and the estate brokers are capable of havinga high close rate per estate purchase desirer, and saving a lot ofefforts and time required before completion of a contact.

Further, the customer condition analysis means analyzes desired purchaseconditions and customer information described by a customer in naturallanguage, thereby providing such an effect that the customer is capableof expressing the desired purchase conditions in ordinary sentencewithout being aware of specific format.

With respect to the desired purchase conditions described in naturallanguage, when priorities are not described, the search conditionsetting means of the estate purchase desirer analyzes the content ofdescriptions in natural language, and judges the priorities of thedesired purchase conditions from the content suggesting the priorities,thereby providing such an effect that customers are capable ofexpressing desired purchase conditions in ordinary sentence withoutbeing aware of specific format.

Further, when priorities are assigned to the desired purchaseconditions, the search condition setting means uses the priorities. Whenpriorities are not assigned, the priorities judged by the searchcondition setting means are used. When the estate purchase desirergeneral extraction means cannot judge priorities, the priorities of thedesired purchase conditions are determined from the sequence ofdescriptions of the described desired purchase conditions, therebyproviding such an effect that customers are capable of expressingdesired purchase conditions in ordinary sentence without being aware ofspecific format.

There is a further effect that subdivision business owners are capableof reducing the risk in subdivision and expecting increases in profit byeffective use of capital.

There is a still further effect that estate purchase brokers expectincreases in customer commission earning, because of high close rate ofthe property that a seller desires to sell.

There is a yet further effect that estate sales brokers expect increasesin commission earning, because of high close rate of the property that abuyer desires to purchase.

FIGS. 5 to 12 illustrate preferable specific examples including theproperty processing means.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an estatetrading system. The estate trading system as shown in FIG. 5 includes anestate trade management center 40. The estate trade management center 40is connected to customers (estate purchase desirers) 43 and estatebrokers 42 who have properties for sale via a network 41 such as theinternet. Accordingly, the customers 43 register customer informationwith the estate trade management center 40 via the network 41, and theestate trade management center 40 provides information (such as a parcelpattern and price) of a property that the customers desire to thecustomers 43. Further, the estate brokers 42 provide information ofproperties for sale to the estate trade management center 40 via thenetwork 41.

The estate trade management center 40 is principally comprised of acustomer data updating section 101, customer database (customer DB) 102,property data updating section 103, property database (property DB) 104,desirer extraction section 105, parcel pattern database (pattern DB)106, parcel pattern selecting section 107, price range check section108, parcel pattern/price determining section 109 and datatransmission/reception section 110.

Data transmission/reception section 110 receives property data such asproperties for sale from the estate brokers 42 and customer data fromthe customers 43 via the network 41, while transmitting information suchas a parcel pattern and price determined in the estate trade managementcenter 40 to the customers 43 via the network 41.

The customer data updating section 101 receives data input by thecustomers 43 on the site to write in the customer DB 102. By this means,the customer data updating section 101 manages the customer data ofcustomers 43 registered with the system. More specifically, for example,on an input screen on the site as shown in FIG. 6, the customer inputs atype of property, desired railroad and station, budget (desired price),floor plan of a house, person in charge, personal information (such asan address, name, age, occupation and telephone number) and soon. Basedon the input data, the customer DB 102 stores the data input on the sitefor each customer.

The property data updating section 103 receives the property data suchas properties for sale input by the estate brokers 42 on the site towrite in the property DB 104. By this means, the property data updatingsection 103 manages the property data that the estate brokers provide tothe system.

In addition, used for the property data is a beforehand trimmed (shaped)property (in the shape of a rectangle) enabling easy parceling (see FIG.8) Accordingly, the property data includes data such as a frontage anddepth of lot in the property trimmed in the shape of a rectangle. Thetrimming processing may be carried out mutually by an input means notshown, or performed automatically by the property data updating section103. Otherwise, the estate broker 42 may transmit the property data of atrimmed property.

The desirer extraction section 105 extracts customers who desire theproperty from the customer DB 102 based on the property data from theestate broker 42. In other words, the desirer extraction section 105extracts from the customer DB 102 customers who describe the railroadand station nearby the property provided by the estate broker 42 as thedesired railroad and station. In this case, it may be possible toextract all the customers who describe the railroad and station nearbythe provided property as the desired railroad and station, or it may bepossible that the maximum number of extracted customers is beforehandset and that a predetermined number of customers are only extracted. Inthe case of limiting customers to the predetermined number, it may bepossible to extract customers in ascending order of data when thecustomer registered the system, or extract based on other informationsuch as the price.

The price range check section 108 extracts a price range that customersmore than the predetermined number desire among the customers extractedin the desirer extraction section 105. In other words, the price rangecheck section 108 obtains the distribution of desired prices from thecustomer database 102, extracts a price range having the maximum numberof customers on the distribution, and checks the tendency of thedistribution of the price range. More specifically, the section 108checks whether many customers desire a specific price or whether acertain number of customers are distributed on a plurality of desiredprices. Then, the price range check section 108 transmits results of thecheck to parcel pattern selecting section 107 as information for parcelselection. In other words, the price range check section 108 obtainspattern selection reference information (the results of the check) toselect a parcel pattern of the provided property.

Herein, extracted is a price range that customers more than thepredetermined number desire, and the distribution of the extracted pricerange information is used as the pattern selection referenceinformation. However, if the parcel pattern selecting section 107described below is capable of selecting a parcel pattern, the patternselection reference information is not limited to the aforementionedinformation. For example, the pattern selection reference informationmay be obtained in consideration of surrounding environments such as thedirection and sunny aspect.

The parcel pattern selecting section 107 selects a parcel pattern fromthe parcel pattern database 106 based on the number of extracteddesirers and information of the price range of the desirers. The parcelpatterns are, for example, considered as shown in FIG. 7, and storedbeforehand in the parcel pattern database 106. To meet such arequirement that each parcel faces to a road, considered are patterns asshown in FIG. 7. While patterns up to four parcels are shown in FIG. 7,the parcel pattern database 106 stores patterns with five or moreparcels. For example, in the case of patterns with five parcels, it ispossible to form such patterns by combining a two-parcel pattern and athree-parcel pattern. In this way, patterns with five or more parcelsare formed by combining a plurality of parcel-patterns.

The parcel pattern/price determining section 109 performs matchingbetween customers and parcels based on the pattern information selectedin the parcel pattern selecting section 107, desirers extracted indesirer extraction section 105, and the price range informationextracted in the price range check section 108. Then, when matching isobtained, the parcel pattern/price determining section 109 transmits thedetermined information (such as parcels and prices) to the customers 43from the data transmission/reception section 110 via the network 41.

In the estate trading system according to the present invention with theaforementioned constitution, customers are extracted whose desiredlocations match a location of the provided property, the patternselection reference information is obtained based on the distribution ofprice ranges of the extracted customers, a parcel pattern of theprovided property is selected based on the pattern selection referenceinformation and customer information, and the parcel and priceinformation is provided to the customers based on the parcel pattern,pattern selection reference information and customer information.

By this means, the provided property is checked against desiredconditions to perform matching, and it is thereby possible to search fora property matching the desired conditions promptly, and to implement acontract of estate trade early. As a result, it is possible to performmatching between a for-sale property and estate purchase desirerspromptly and efficiently.

Specific examples of the estate trading system with the aforementionedconstitution will be described below with reference to FIGS. 8 to 11.FIGS. 8(a) to 8(c) are views to explain parcels in the estate tradingsystem according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is aflowchart to explain procedures in the estate trading system accordingto the one embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 10 and 11 aregraphs showing distributions of the number of desirers with respect to aproperty to sell used in the estate trading system according to the oneembodiment of the present invention.

Descriptions are given according to the flowchart in FIG. 9. First, instep S100, the estate broker 42 offers a property (land targeted forsale). The property information is transmitted from the estate broker 42to the data transmission/reception section 110 in the estate trademanagement center 40. The data transmission/reception section 110outputs the property information to the property data updating section103. The property data updating section 103 stores the propertyinformation in the property database 104. At this point, the propertydata updating section 103 performs trimming on the property. In otherwords, when the property as shown in FIG. 8(a) is offered, the propertydata updating section 103 performs trimming on the property in the shapeof a rectangle (white portion) to facilitate parceling as shown in FIG.8(b) or 8(c). Further, the property data updating section 103 outputsthe property information to the desirer extraction section 105.

In step S105, the desirer extraction section 105 extracts customers whodesire the offered property. In other words, the desirer extractionsection 105 extracts customers (target customers) who desire therailroad and station of the offered property as the desired railroad andstation from the customer database 102. More specifically, the section105 checks the railroad and station included in the property informationagainst railroads and stations included in the customer informationstored in the customer database 102, and extracts all matchingcustomers. The information of the extracted customers (desirers) isoutput to the price range check section 108, parcel pattern selectingsection 107, and parcel-pattern/price determining section 109.

In step S110, the price range check section 108 checks a price rangeincluding a predetermined number of customers. For example, the pricerange check section 108 checks the distribution of desired prices of thecustomers who desire the offered property. More specifically, the pricerange check section 108 checks the distribution based on the desiredprices included in the customer information. Results are assumed asshown in FIG. 10 or 11. In FIG. 10 an extremely large number ofcustomers offer 35-million yens as a desired price, while in FIG. 11 alarge number of customers offer 30-million yens, 35-million yens, or40-million yens as a desired price.

In step S115, the price range check section 108 judges the tendency ofthe distribution of desired prices. More specifically, the section 108judges whether or not the desired prices are centered on a particularprice.

In the case where the desired prices are centered on a particular price,in other words, in the case of the distribution as shown in FIG. 10,determined in step S120 is the number of parcels from the number ofextracted customers and the minimum parcel area (50 m²). For example, inFIG. 11, nine customers offer 35-milion yens as a desired price, andtherefore, are equally sorted into three groups with three people. Then,the price range check section 108 outputs as the pattern selectionreference information the information including the tendency of thedistribution (FIG. 10) with the centered particular price, the centeredprice, and the number of extracted customers of three groups each withthree customers to the parcel pattern selecting section 107 and parcelpattern/price determining section 109.

The parcel pattern selecting section 107 selects a parcel pattern basedon the pattern selection reference information. In other words, sincethe pattern selection reference information indicates that thedistribution is as shown in FIG. 10, the price is 35-million yens, andthat three groups each have three customers, the section 107 selects anequal parcel pattern based on the information while referring to theparcel pattern database 106. More specifically, the section 107 selectsthe parcel pattern as shown in FIG. 8(b). The parcel pattern informationis output to parcel pattern/price determining section 109.

In step S130, the parcel pattern/price determining section 109determines the parcel pattern and price based on the parcel patterninformation, customer information, and pattern selection referenceinformation. In addition, at this point, the parcel pattern/pricedetermining section 109 serves as the property processing means, and mayprocess the property to match desires of a plurality of customers(estate purchase general candidates). More specifically, based on thepattern selection reference information and the customer information,for example, the parcel pattern/price determining section 109 may form3-D house images 200A and 200B respectively in parcels A and B as shownin FIG. 12(a), or may change the property line of the parcels A and B asshown in FIG. 12(b). Further, according to the change of the propertyline L of the parcels A and B, sizes of the 3-D house images 200A and200B may be changed.

The parcel and price information is transmitted to the customers 43 fromthe data transmission/reception section 110 via the network 41. Theprovision of the parcel/price information may be carried out on thenetwork as described above, or by mail.

Meanwhile, when the desired prices are not centered on a particularprice, in other words, in the case of the distribution as shown in FIG.11, determined in step S125 is the number of parcels from the number ofextracted customers. For example, in FIG. 11, there are three customerswith 30-milion yens as a desired price, five customers with 35-millionyens as a desired price and four customers with 40-million yens as adesired price. In this case, parcels are graded into a low-price parcel,middle-price parcel and high-price parcel. The grading is determined asappropriate in consideration of surrounding environments such as thedirection and sunny aspect. The grouping is thus carried out such thatthe low-price parcel (30-million yens) includes three customers, themiddle-price parcel (35-million yens) includes three customers and thatthe high-price parcel (40-million yens) includes three customers.

The price range-check section 108 outputs as the pattern selectionreference information the information including the tendency of thedistribution (FIG. 11) without any centered particular price, aplurality of prices (30-million yens, 35-million yens and 40-millionyens), and the number of extracted customers of three groups each withthree customers to the parcel pattern selecting section 107 and parcelpattern/price determining section 109.

The parcel pattern selecting section 107 selects a parcel pattern basedon the pattern selection reference information. In other words, sincethe pattern selection reference information indicates that thedistribution is as shown in FIG. 11, the prices are 30-million yens,35-million yens and 40-million yens, and that groups are the low-priceparcel including three customers, middle-price parcel including threecustomers and high-price parcel including three customers, the section107 selects a parcel pattern based on the information while referring tothe parcel pattern database 106. More specifically, the section 107selects the parcel pattern as shown in FIG. 8(c). The parcel patterninformation is output to parcel pattern/price determining section 109.

In step S130, the parcel pattern/price determining section 109determines the parcel pattern and price based on the parcel patterninformation, customer information, and pattern selection referenceinformation. Then, the parcel pattern and price information istransmitted to the customers 43 from the data transmission/receptionsection 110 via the network 41. The provision of the parcel/priceinformation may be carried out on the network as described above, or bymail.

The customers 43 having received the information of the parcel patternand price send a response as to whether or not to purchase to the estatebroker 42 via the estate trade management center 40. Subsequently,negotiations start on a contract between the estate broker 42 andcustomers 43. In this way, it is made possible to implement estate tradecontracts promptly and efficiently. In addition, the response as towhether or not to purchase may be sent by returning an e-mail with theinformation of the parcel pattern and price attached thereto, or carriedout on the site of the system.

The present invention is not limited to the aforementioned embodiment,and is capable of being carried into practice with various modificationsthereof. For example, items to input, and layout on an input screen onthe site and parcel patterns are not limited to the above-mentionedembodiment, and are capable of being modified in various manners.

The above-mentioned embodiment describes the case where a parcel patternis determined in consideration of a price range when a plurality ofdesirers is extracted on a property to sell. However, in the presentinvention, when a plurality of desirers is extracted on a property tosell, a parcel pattern may be determined in consideration of anothercondition, for example, surrounding environments such as the directionand sunny aspect.

Further, the above-mentioned embodiment describes the case of performingin hardware the processing for extracting desirers and then selecting aparcel pattern. However, in the present invention, the processing forextracting desirers and then selecting a parcel pattern may be performedin software. For example, it may be possible that the processing forextracting desirers and then selecting a parcel pattern is programmed,the program is stored in ROM, and that the operation is performed byinstructions of a CPU according to the program. Further, it may bepossible that the program is stored in a computer-readable storagemedium, the program in the storage medium is stored in RAM of acomputer, and that the operation is performed according to the program.Such cases also exhibit the same effects as in the above-mentionedembodiment.

1. An estate group purchasing matching system comprising: property datastorage means for generating a database of for-sale property informationprovided from estate sales desirers, estate purchase brokers and others,on a network where the estate sales desirers and the estate purchasebrokers are connected to enable data communications there between;estate purchase desirer data input means for generating a database ofinformation of desired purchase conditions of estate purchase desirersand attribute information on the estate purchase desirers input from aplurality of terminal apparatuses, on a network where the estatepurchase desirers and the estate purchase brokers are connected toenable data communications there between; search condition setting meansfor analyzing the desired purchase conditions of the estate purchasedesirers and the attribute information on the estate purchase desirerson each property of the for-sale property information database in theproperty data storage means, and setting a search conditioncorresponding to the each property from the estate purchase desirerinformation database generated by the estate purchase desirer data inputmeans; estate purchase desirer general extraction means for searchinggeneral information of a plurality of estate purchase desirer candidatesbased on the search condition set by the search condition setting means,and extracting a plurality of estate purchase general candidates;desired condition analysis means for analyzing desired purchaseconditions of the plurality of estate purchase general candidatesextracted by the estate purchase desirer general extraction meanscorresponding to the each property of the, for-sale property informationdatabase, and setting combinations thereof; and property processingmeans for processing the property to enable matching with desires of theplurality of estate purchase general candidates.
 2. The estate grouppurchasing matching system according to claim 1, wherein the for-saleproperty information databased by the property data storage meansincludes at least a database storing attribution data such as anapplication, a type, location information, owner information,information of price per unit area and environment information of eachproperty, and a map database with which is registered data of maps onwhich properties are present.
 3. The estate group purchasing matchingsystem according to claim 1, wherein the information of desired purchaseconditions of estate purchase desirers databased by the estate purchasedesirer data input means includes at least information as to whether adesired property is a land or a house with the land, information ofdesired railroad, information of desired station, information of desiredprice of a property, and personal attribute information of desirers, andthe attribute information on the estate purchase desirers includes atleast a name, an age, a current address, a telephone number, an e-mailaddress, a family structure, occupation, place of work and years ofcontinuous employment, annual income, presence or absence of initialdeposit, motive of desire for purchase and whether the current house isan own house or not.
 4. The estate group purchasing matching systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the search condition setting meansanalyzes the desired purchase conditions of the estate purchase desirersand the attribute information of the purchase desirers on each propertyof the for-sale property using the estate purchase desirer informationdatabase, and extracting a search condition by quantifying limitationsin the attribute information and further quantifying priorities of thedesired conditions.
 5. The estate group purchasing matching systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the estate purchase desirer generalextraction means extracts general information of a plurality of estatepurchase desirers using the search condition setting means, and iscapable of simulating possible combination patterns.
 6. The estate grouppurchasing matching system according to claim 1, further comprising:desired condition analysis means for analyzing in detail the conditionsof each of the plurality of estate purchase general candidates extractedby the estate purchase desirer general extraction means with respect toeach property of the for-sale property information database to narrowcombinations.
 7. The estate group purchasing matching system accordingto claim 6, wherein with respect to each property of the for-saleproperty information database, the property processing means processesthe property so that a designated candidate for-sale property isallocated to match as much as possible with needs of a plurality ofestate purchase candidates selected by the desired condition analysismeans.
 8. The estate group purchasing matching system according to claim1, wherein the property processing means comprises customer informationstorage means for storing customer information including desiredlocations and desired prices, customer extraction means for extractingcustomers whose desired location is a location of an offered property,pattern selection reference information acquiring means for acquiringpattern selection reference information based on a distribute of desiredprices of extracted customers, parcel pattern selecting means forselecting a parcel pattern of the offered property based on the patternselection reference information and the customer information, and meansfor providing information of parcel and price to the extracted customersbased on the parcel pattern, the pattern selection reference informationand the customer information.
 9. The estate group purchasing matchingsystem according to claim 8, wherein the pattern selection referenceinformation includes information as to whether desired prices of theextracted customers are centered on a particular price.
 10. The estategroup purchasing matching system according to claim 9, wherein when thedesired prices of the extracted customers are centered on a particularprice, the parcel pattern selecting means selects a parcel pattern withequally divided parcels.
 11. The estate group purchasing matching systemaccording to claim 9, wherein when the desired prices of the extractedcustomers are not centered on a particular price, the pattern selectionreference information acquiring means performs grading corresponding tothe desired prices of the extracted customers, and the parcel patternselecting means selects a parcel pattern in consideration of thegrading.
 12. The estate group purchasing matching system according toclaim 8, wherein the offered property is trimmed in the shape of arectangle.
 13. The estate group purchasing matching system according toclaim 8, wherein 3-D house images are displayed in parcels of theoffered property.
 14. The estate group purchasing matching systemaccording to claim 8, wherein a property line of parcels of the offeredproperty is changed based on the pattern selection reference informationand the customer information.
 15. The estate group purchasing matchingsystem according to claim 8, wherein 3-D house images are displayed inparcels of the offered property, a property line of parcels of theoffered property is changed based on the pattern selection referenceinformation and the customer information, and display of the 3-D imageschange according to the change in the property line.